10th Aug 2018 10:08:PM Editorials
Eastern Sentinel Arunachal News

The Union Government has once again rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to grant pardon to seven convicts including woman convict Nalini in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case of 1991. It on Friday accepted on record a communication from the Central government rejecting a proposal made by the Tamil Nadu government to release the seven convicts undergoing life imprisonment in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The assassination was an unparalleled act in the annals of crimes committed in this country, the Centre, in a letter, has told the State government. It may be noted that Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S. Ramadoss had demanded their release under Article 161 of the Constitution. Article 161 deals with the power of “Governor to grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases. The Governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends.”

Rajiv Gandhi, it may be noted, was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur near Chennai where he went to address an election campaign meeting. The bomb-belt assassin was popularly known as Dhanu, a LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) cadre. LTTE has been fighting in the north of Sri Lanka for a separate Tamil homeland then. 

The case was handed over to a special investigation team led by the then Director General of CRPF D R Karthikeyan. It took him almost one month’s manhunt to pin down the assassins in a rented house in Bangalore. Four of the four original squad members were later sentenced to death except Nalini who even gave birth to a daughter in the jail. She has been in jail since then. It remains to be seen what will be the judgment of the SC in this long pending case.


Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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